


Things Change, But Jack Doesn't

by AspiringAuthor29



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Gen, I'm Not Ashamed, Jack being a mother hen, The author needed a way to get Jack back, This was their out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:41:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27425902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AspiringAuthor29/pseuds/AspiringAuthor29
Summary: It has been almost a year since Jack left to hunt down Kovac; almost a year since he's seen his boy. But, they are about to be reunited...so Mac can be used as leverage in getting Jack to talk. Jack would never betray his country, but this is Mac's life on the line...
Relationships: Jack Dalton & Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016), Jack Dalton & Matilda "Matty" Webber (MacGyver TV 2016), Jack Dalton (MacGyver TV 2016) & Riley Davis, Riley Davis & Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 36





	Things Change, But Jack Doesn't

**Author's Note:**

> I thought of this idea while watching the episode where Murdoc shoots Mac in the shoulder and seeing the way Jack hovers over Mac. I just really miss Jack okay! :( Don't blame me!

Being kidnapped never got any easier. It also got extremely old in this line of work. Jack was chained up in a completely cement room, the only exit was the intrusive steel door at the front of the room. He had spent the last few hours since waking up trying to MacGyver his way out of the room. Thinking about that name sent a wave of pain through his already bruised body. God, he missed his kid.

He had been on his long-term op of hunting down Tiberius Kovac for almost a year now. He knew it was going to be the hardest thing he had ever done, leaving his team, but he never imagined the pain and guilt he would feel practically every minute of every day. The only thing that kept him going was the prospect of going home when this was all over. Sure, his temporary team was great, but no one could ever replace his Phoenix family, and above all, no one could EVER replace his boy.

How he got here was still sort of a mystery. One minute he had been looking over some blueprints of a compound they believed was owned by Kovac, and the next he had woken up here bruised and an incessant pounding in his head. Another thing, where was everyone? Usually these people were all "Who do you work for?" and throwing punches, but Jack hadn't seen anyone since waking up here.

As if summoned by mere thought, the metal door swung open with a squeak and a bang. In the doorway stood two mountains for men. They had hands the size of volleyballs and tattoos covered a good portion of their bodies. Jack had thought that Desi had a lot of tattoos, but these guys put her to shame. One of them lumbered over to him and shoved a key that looked comically small in the man's hands into the lock on Jack's chains. Roughly, the mountain man jerked him up and practically drug him over to his buddy.

"Yeesh, man, easy with the merchandise. Wouldn't want me to report you to the higher ups, would ya?" Jack quipped, a small smirk on his face. The men ignored him as they yanked him down a long, grey hallway. Yay, more cement! Jack thought giddily. He definitely got hit in the head pretty hard.

After some twist and turns, which Jack tried to remember through the haze in his brain, they came to yet another heavy metal door. Mountain man two shoved it open and Jack was slammed into an old wooden chair, his wrists and ankles being tied immediately thereafter. Dazedly, Jack glanced around him. This room was identical to the one he had been in before, besides the chair in the middle of the room that he was sitting in. He would have given anything for Mac to be there right then. He always knew what to do. No, he chided himself, if Mac were here right now that would mean that he would be in danger. Stop being selfish, Dalton!

The ominous creak of the door being opened again brought him out of his thoughts. Being tied to the chair, he had a limited range of motion, so he had to wait until the person was standing almost directly in front of him before he could see who it was.

"Hello Mr. Dalton," the man said in a monotonous Romanian accent. "What is it with you baddies and your Romanian accent? I mean, you could at try a nice New York accent once. And the cement, man, so cliché," Jack rambled.

"I know much about your habit of talking your captors ears off, Mr. Dalton, but know that it will not work with me. I suggest that you shut your mouth now and cooperate." With this the man nodded towards one of the Beefy Boys in the corner and he stalked forward. In one fluid motion, his fist flew up and collided with Jack's face. He merely grunted in response. "Hey, obviously you know who I am, so it's only courtesy for me to know your name."

"You have no need for this information so I am not liable to tell you, but there's something you can do for me," the man said in a low voice, "You can tell me why you are trying to hunt down Tiberius."

"Well, that ain't your business, now is it? You think you know me than you should know that I'm not about to tell you guys nothin'," Jack drawled. This got him and brutal punch from Mr. Mountain. "Please use your words and not your fists," Jack said, spitting out blood from his split lip. Another punch.

"Well aren't you the tough guy," Jack slurred, his vision blurry. The guy slammed another punch into the side of Jack's head and his brain began to swim.

"Enough!" the Romanian man snapped, "That is enough for now, take him back to his cell"

This went on for what Jack figured was a day or two. The goons would come in and drag him to the other room, Mr. Accent would demand to know why his team was hunting down Tiberius, he would get punched around, and then they would take him back to the cement brick they called a cell.

During the fifth or sixth interrogation, Jack was once again getting slapped around by Human Mountain and his sidekick. He could see Romanian Guy getting very irritated, and Jack got a sort of pleasure out of seeing him tick.

"That is all for now," the man said in a cold, dangerous voice, "It is clear that Mr. Dalton has no intentions of revealing any information, so there is no use in continuing. I will have to figure out other means of persuasion."

That last statement sent chills down Jack's back. He did not like the sound of these "other means of persuasion", and he definitely did not want to know what he meant. Unfortunately, he had a feeling that whatever it was, it was not going to be anything good.

He was once again roughly jerked up out of his chair after the ropes were untied. The two mountains threw him back into his cell after pulling him back down the hallways. They didn't even bother to chain him back up. Jack sighed and laid his pounding head against the wall. He really hoped that his team, his replacement team that is, would come and rescue him soon. Although, deep down, he was hoping that his actual team would come for him. He knew that was just wishful thinking on his part. They probably didn't even know where he was in the world, let alone that he had been captured. Still, there was that secret bit of hope that Matty somehow knew and would send the team to rescue him.

0000

Jack hadn't even realized that he had fallen asleep until he was rudely awakened by the sound of his cell door opening.

"Hey, nice to see ya! It's been a little lonely in here since you've left me alone all of this time. I could use some company, you know?" Jack shouted as soon as the door opened far enough for him to be heard. "Well, I have brought you a familiar friend, Mr. Dalton," the man from the past few days voice answered. Jack didn't have time to process this statement before he heard shuffling right outside the door. Mr. Mountain could be seen in the doorway gripping a slender form of a person by the arm. With one shove, the guard threw the form roughly into the cell, a groan coming from the person as they hit the hard floor.

"Have fun, Mr. Dalton," his captor's voice said with a hint of a grin in it. This left Jack momentarily confused. Have fun? What was that supposed to mean? The person on the floor let out a pained groan. Jack glanced down only to suck in a sharp breath. It looked so much like… no, Jack must have been hit in the head harder than he had originally thought. It must have just been his subconscious mind making him believe what he wanted to be reality. Wow, he even sounded like the boy in question. He was just hallucinating, that sounded more accurate.

The person on the floor gave a small whimper and Jack glanced down once again. And once again, the similarities were uncanny to Jack. The blond hair, the lanky form. Okay, he could not be hallucinating. With this realization, Jack scrambled on his hands and knees over to the thin form.

Jack knelt beside the boy. He could absolutely not believe that the boy, his boy, was right here, wherever here was. "Mac!" Jack cried with dismay. And wonder. And fear. And lots of other emotions. The boy was lying on the floor, face scrunched and eyes shut tight with pain. "J-jack?" Mac murmured in shock, his eyes briefly fluttering open. "Yeah man, it's me. I'd tell you it's good to see ya, but under the circumstances, I'm not sure it's appropriate."

"Well, it depends on your definition of good," Mac whispered through pale lips. Jack couldn't help but smile. Even after being away for almost a year, they could still slip easily back into their usual banter as if nothing had happened. Jack's smile disappeared though when Mac groaned again in spite of himself.

"Hey, bud, I may have been away for a while, but I still know what that sound means. Where ya hurtin'?" One shaking hand came up to grip Jack's arm. When he removed it after another spasm of pain passed, Jack noticed a glistening substance stained in its wake. With widening eyes, he glanced down to see dark, crimson blood smeared on his arm.

"What the-" Jack started as he noticed Mac's pale hands pressed weakly to his own stomach. Without hesitation, Jack reached down and pulled Mac's hands away as gently as he could. Jack blanched at the sight that this revealed. Mac had a huge rip in his shirt and a who-knew-how deep gash underneath. Almost the entire front of his shirt was stained with blood, which was still actively pouring from the wound.

"How did this happen Mac?" Jack asked with barely controlled rage. These people had hurt Mac, and Jack may not be a religious man, but that was the biggest sin any person could commit in his book. "Were you on an op or was this something else?"

Mac spoke after a few minutes, his voice still as strong as it could be under the circumstances, "It wasn't an op. I was working late in the lab after everyone had gone home, but I guess I shouldn't have been. We had a two-day mission and I guess I was too tired… anyway, I didn't hear them come. By the time I did, it was too late. I tried to fight them off, Jack, I really did, but once he drew the knife, I didn't have a chance. I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, Jack." Mac was rambling on and his lips trembled. Jack knew that Mac only broke down when he was in serious pain, so it was getting to the point of no return, as Jack called it. The blood loss wasn't helping either, Jack knew.

Gently, Jack laid his hand on Mac's slim shoulder. Had this kid even been eating since he had left? No, probably not if Jack knew Mac, which he did. "Hey, buddy, it's not your fault so stop apologizing. The bastards who did this to you are at fault."

"So, you're not mad at me?" Mac whispered, not meeting Jack's eyes.

"Of course not, I'm never mad at you. Come on, you know me better than that Mac, I can never stay mad at the puppy for long." Jack affectionately ruffled Mac's always-immaculate blond hair. Mac gave him a weak smile and then seemed to remember to act mad, so he quickly switched to a pathetic glare. This only made Jack laugh. He had missed his kid so much, he just wished that they weren't reuniting under these circumstances. "Now come on, let's see what we can do about that scratch."

He moved over in order to take his jacket off. It was leather, so not the most ideal material for clotting wounds, but it would have to do for now. He moved back over so he was kneeling beside Mac. "Alright, bud, I got to get this bleeding stopped or at least slowed down, but I don't have to tell you this is going to suck, right?"

Mac didn't respond but did reach up to grip Jack shirt. Jack pressed the rolled-up jacket to the bleeding wound. He felt the hand tighten its grip on his shirt and watched Mac's eyes squeeze shut, but he made no sound. Mac's ability to withstand extreme amounts of pain was something that Jack had marveled at even back in the sandbox. Mac could withstand things that would make even the most hard-core agents cry without making so much as a whimper. Things were really bad when Mac was in enough pain to express it besides facial expressions.

Slowly, Jack shifted Mac up, so he was leaning against his chest and then scooched back, so he was leaning against the wall. Mac only gave a small groan at the initial movement but was then silent thereafter. He kept steady pressure on the gash with one hand while the other lightly carted through blond hair. "Go to sleep, brother, Jack's here now to look out for you."

Within a few moments of this statement, Jack felt the head against his head lose a bit of its tension and Mac's pained breathing even out with sleep. Jack laughed quietly, "Still works," he murmured to himself, speaking of the hand still carting through the boy's hair. He had discovered that Mac was easily lulled into sleep when a hand continuously ran through his hair clear back during their army days. Whenever the young boy had a nightmare, Jack would secretly run his hand through the kid's hair after he had gone to sleep.

In a sick way, Jack was over-the-moon happy that Mac was here. He had no clue why he was here, but clearly it was no accident that the two of them had ended up in the same place after being kidnapped half-way across the world from one and other. And something else was bothering him. When the Romanian man had thrown Mac into the room, he had said "I have brought you a familiar friend". That meant that their captor knew at least somewhat of Mac and Jack's relationship, which concerned him under these conditions. That could potentially give their kidnappers leverage.

Jack was rudely interrupted from his connection's moment about a half-hour later when the large metal door swung open. Mac jerked awake in Jack's arms, confused and disorientated. Instinctually, Jack tightened his hold on the boy in his arms, trying to offer him reassurance and protect him in the same gesture. The bleeding from Mac's stab wound had slowed significantly, and Jack did not want it to start up again because of any drastic movements from the boy in question.

The two goons sauntered through the doorway and didn't hesitate to walk over and roughly rip Mac from Jack's grip. The blond cried out in surprise and pain as the man holding him started for the door. Mac was forced to stumble after him, his feet dragging on the ground. Jack was also forced to his feet, but he kept his eyes on the youngest member of the group.

When they got to the familiar interrogation room, Jack noticed that there were now two chairs occupying the middle of the room. He knew that meant these people had been expecting there to be two people now instead of one, which meant they had planned this.

Mac was slammed a little too hard for Jack's liking into the newest chair and was immediately tied down. Jack was quick to follow in suit. He snuck a glance at Mac. The kid was pale and beads of sweat glistened on his forehead. He could see fresh blood seeping on to his already tarnished shirt and the slight tremors in the usually steady hands.

When the door opened up again to reveal Mr. Captor himself, Jack quickly diverted his attention away from Mac in the hopes of hiding the strong feelings he felt for the boy.

"Hello, Mr. Dalton it is good to see you again. And we have a new friend, Mr. MacGyver, welcome. Sorry about the knife, but you have a rather renowned reputation for slipping out of the grasps of our people, so I took some precautionary measures."

The man walked over to stand in front of Mac and gripped the boys jaw in his hand. "You are a good-looking boy, Mr. MacGyver, or should I call you Master as you do not look old enough to be of age." Jack watched in tense silence, putting everything he had into keeping a bottle on his emotions.

"Mr. Dalton here was having some difficulty answering my questions, so I had to find something that would motivate him more than anything else. It took a little while to track you down from across the world, but I have men in high places. Once I learned of your military background with each other and your affiliation now, I put you on to the consideration list, Mr. MacGyver, but it wasn't until I read some old case reports on the two of you that I knew you were the perfect thing. Your commanding officers said that you had taken a particular liking to the young EOD, Mr. Dalton, and after some research, I found that you are more than a little fond of him," the man explained, switching back and forth between talking to Mac and Jack.

That's when it hit Jack. It took him a few extra moments to process this new information due to his extensive head injuries, but the realization hit him worse than a ton of bricks. Mac was the "other forms of persuasion" that this man had talked about the last time they had talked. The man had wanted to find the most important person in the world to Jack, and that person happened to be Mac. He needed someone that Jack would say anything for in order to save them. They were about to torture Mac.

"Hey now, leave the kid alone. He hasn't done nothing to you. Whatever your problem is with me, deal with it with me and not through other people. Leave him out of this and I will stay here for as long as you want. You can do anything you want to me," Jack words came out in a rush as he begged the man. Usually he was above begging anyone, especially the baddies, but he wasn't above anything when it came to Mac. It was too risky to be above anything when Mac was in danger.

"Very good, you have figured out my plan. But alas, no amount of petty begging can stop this. There is only one thing and I believe that you know what that one thing is, Mr. Dalton," their personal psychopath said with a sadistic grin on his face. Unfortunately, Jack did know what that one thing was, but he was emotionally torn. On one hand, he would never betray his country while he was in his sound mind, no matter what any kidnapper did to him. But this was Mac they were talking about. Mac was on a was on a whole other level of priorities for Jack; anyone who thought that Jack wouldn't do anything for Mac was sadly mistaken.

The man stared intently at Jack. "Well, Mr. Dalton. I will give you this one chance to stop all of this right here and now, but this is the only chance you will get for a while so I would think hard about what you say." Jack glowered at the floor, refusing to meet the man's gaze. He was just about to blurt out what their captor wanted to know when a series of taps broke through the silence. Quickly, Jack glanced up at Mac who was tapping out a message in Morse code. Don't tell him anything. I will be fine.

"Interference in your decision from Mr. MacGyver has vetoed your chance to give up any information for now, just remember that this is all your fault Mr. Dalton," the man growled in an almost excited tone. The prospect of torturing someone must have really gotten this guy's endorphins going.

But of course, a man of his caliber wasn't about to do his own dirty work, no, he was just a spectator Jack found out. A coward was what he really was. Romanian gave a nod to his henchman who were guarding the door, and they came forward to stand around Mac. One of them pulled the back of his chair towards the floor so that the chair was sitting on two legs, and the other stood right in front of him. They seemed to make sure that Jack had a clear view of Mac's pale, pain-filled face. There was barely detectable fear etched deep into the boy's face but that was mostly covered up by the agony he was clearly in from the gash on his stomach.

The mountain standing in front of him raised one meaty fist and brought it down with a jarring force on Mac's face. The boy's head whipped to the side, but the henchman holding the chair grabbed a fist full of his hair and pinned his head straight. The torturer brought his fist down again and a sickening crunch came from Mac's nose. The boy whimpered the littlest bit as blood began to run down his chin.

Again and again the goon brought his fist down on Mac's prone face, Jack screaming the whole time, "God, please stop, you're hurting him!"

"Stop," the main man himself said in a voice barely above a whisper. Instantly, the goon let Mac's chair slam back on to all four legs and they both retreated back to their positions by the door. Mac gave a small cry as the force form the chair meeting the floor jarred him in his seat.

"You begged us to stop, so I assume you are ready to talk now, Mr. Dalton," he said in a monotone voice. Jack sent him the deadliest glare he could muster, but he seemed to take a few seconds longer than the man liked to respond. The man rushed forward in a moment of uncontrolled rage and furiously ripped away the ropes holding Mac. He forcefully grabbed Mac's right wrist and gave one quick jerk. A sickening pop sounded through the room as Mac's shoulder popped out of its socket. The boy cried out in surprise at the same time Jack roared, "I'm gonna kill you!"

As if a switch was slipped, the Romanian man released Mac and resumed his calm composure. This guy seemed to be seriously Bipolar. The boy laid trying to control his breathing on the floor. "Sorry about that, but my patience is starting to wane after these few days as you must understand." Now speaking to his henchmen, he said, "Please take these two back to their holding cell."

The two guards by the door came forward once again. One began to rip Jack out of his confines, while the other carelessly dragged Mac down the hall, the boy gasping in pain the entire time.

As Jack and his personal escort were just about to follow them, their torturer called out after him. "Oh, and Mr. Dalton, you wanted to know who I was. My name is Andrei Kovac, Tiberius' brother."

0000

Jack was left stunned by this information as he blindly stumbled along with Mountain Man 1. Now that he thought about it, everything that had happened since he had gotten here made sense. His team was hunting down Kovac in order to take him down once and for all. Even though his brother was a literal psychopath, Andrei still cared about him and wanted to know why they were hunting down his brother. If he told them anything, Jack had no doubt that Andrei would immediately go and let Tiberius know they were coming for him. But, if he could some how turn this all around and take Andrei in, he may be the key his team needed to stop Tiberius once and for all.

He had just started to formulate his new found plan when he was abruptly shoved back into the room he shared with Mac. The door was slammed shut and he didn't hesitate to rush to the blond's side. The boy was curled on his side, whimpering in pain. "Easy, bud, easy just be careful. I got you, everything's alright now." He pulled the boy up and tilted his head back to try and staunch the blood still flowing from his nose. Jack turned and picked up his discarded jacket from before and resumed pressing it against the fresh blood coming from the wound on Mac's stomach. A groan escaped the pale lips as Jack applied new pressure to the wound.

After a few minutes of Jack gently stoking Mac hair, applying pressure to the wound, and Mac's head tilted back on Jack's shoulder, the inevitable couldn't be avoided any longer.

"Alright man, you know I have to set that arm, right? I promise you'll feel so much better after I do," Jack murmured to the kid in his arms, hating himself for having to do this, for causing Mac to be in this situation in the first place. Mac gave a barely detectable nod and Jack shifted him over to the side. He helped him painfully struggle out of his hoodie and then turned until he was facing him.

"Alright, once I set your arm, I'm gonna use your hoodie as a sling," Jack explained, "Here we go." Before Mac had time to process these words, Jack pulled his arm back into its socket. A small pop sounded and the small amount of color remaining in Mac's face drained away. Jack wasted no time in putting the makeshift sling on.

They resumed there position once again, Jack still stroking Mac's hair steadily. "Shh, I'm so sorry, buddy, I'm so sorry."

Eventually, Jack felt his kid relax into sleep against his chest. Jack was trying so hard to stay strong for Mac, but now was his time to break. It was all his fault that Mac was even hurt in the first place. He should never have left his team; he should have been able to protect his boy. Him and Mac had been tortured countless times, but Jack knew that this man would never stop until they either broke or were dead. Tears welled up in his eyes, for his family, his fear, and most of all, for the world in his arms.

How many times was Jack going to wake up without even realizing that he had gone to sleep in the first place? This was twice now within a matter of days. Mac was still sound asleep in his arms. It was moments later, though, that he woke with a frightened jolt when the door crashed open. Jack moved in front of the already beaten kid. "No!" he growled at the door.

"No what?" came a beautiful female voice. A face Jack had been missing almost as much as Mac peered around the door. Riley's face broke into a grin at the sight of Jack and she was wrapped in his embrace before he even realized they had moved. "Hey, sweetheart," he whispered into her hair. He felt her tears wet his shirt as she broke from him and wrapped her arms gently around Mac.

"When Matty told me that you were being held captive with Mac, I volunteered immediately for the rescue," Riley explained with a grin on her face.

"Wait, did you guys apprehend Andrei?" Jack asked urgently. "Yep, we have him in cuffs as you speak." Together, Riley and Jack helped Mac to limp out of their cell and towards the door and freedom. Outside, the Phoenix had a medical helicopter equipped for two patients waiting for them. Matty, Jack thought, smiling the whole time. A group of EMTs came over and tried to wheel Mac away on a stretcher, but he whimpered and kept his hold on Jack's shoulder. Turning towards him, he said, "It's alright bud, I'm not gonna leave ya. I'll be right there; I just have something to take care of first." Understanding brightened in Mac's eyes and he allowed himself to be wheeled away by the EMTs. After he saw Mac loaded on to the chopper and Riley get on with him, Jack walked towards Andrei, who was being loaded into an armored car.

As the TAC team loading him up saw Jack approach, they swiftly moved aside so he had clear view of the man. Roughly, he grabbed the collar of Andrei's shirt. With one sudden movement of his fist, Jack socked the man right on the nose and was satisfied to hear his nose shatter under the impact. "That's for Mac. If you or any of your men ever lay another hand on him, you'll be begging for your life." With that, he turned and walked towards the chopper.

0000

Later that day, Jack walked the hallways of the Phoenix towards Matty's office. He had fresh clothes, food, and a good bit of Advil in him, so he was good to go. Mac was being kept in medical under surveillance for a few days, much to the young man's displeasure, but he was expected to make a full recovery. And anyway, Jack was getting some entertainment and blackmail material out of this whole ordeal, with Mac being hopped up on pain meds and all. Right now, the boy was asleep, so Jack had decided to slip away for a few minutes and speak to Matty.

He cautiously opened her office door. "Come in I guess, Dalton," she said without even looking up from the files she was going over.

He took a seat across from her and began, "Matty I want to resign form the Kovac op." She glanced up at him and silently slid a folder across the desk. He picked it up and looked through it. It was all the resignation forms he needed already done up.

"You didn't really think I wasn't expecting this, did you Dalton?" she said, a smile in her voice. "You are a miracle worker!" Jack cried. She just smiled and said, "Welcome back Jack. Now, go back to your boy." He shot her one last grin and turned to head back to medical.


End file.
